Teen Charged With Exploding Acid Bombs At School

WESTON — A 14-year-old boy has been arrested for making and planting acid bombs that exploded on the grounds of a Weston elementary school, a Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

The teen-ager was charged late Thursday with exploding the bombs at Country Isles Elementary School. No one was injured, said Sheriff's spokesman Ott Cefkin.

Detectives with the Sheriff's bomb and arson unit found the remnants of six bombs on a basketball court at the school and at a nearby sandbox. Another bomb, still smoking, was found under a portable classroom, and one that didn't explode was found on a roadside swale, Cefkin said.

The bombs, which spray toxic fumes and acid in all directions when exploded, could easily blind a person who was close enough, said Sheriff's Detective George Suhaj, who arrested the boy. The bombs are most destructive when put in an enclosed space, such as a mailbox, Suhaj said.

The teen, who was charged with eight felony counts of making and possessing destructive devices, lives across the street from the school and said he made one of the bombs that exploded. Suhaj said he is a suspect in a rash of similar acid bomb explosions in the area.

``We've had other incidents [in Weston) where bombs have been exploded in mailboxes and other places,'' said Cefkin, who added he didn't know of anyone who had been injured by the bombs.

BSO is investigating the bombings. Anyone with information about the case or the manufacture of acid bombs in the Weston area should call Suhaj at 831-8360 or Crime Stoppers at 493-TIPS.